Kent continues, “It can be rough, and you have to know when you’re on a show like this and you make bad decisions, these are the kind of things that happen, especially when you’re throwing daggers at people while you’re doing something like that.” She adds, “You’re gonna get the smoke. I don’t know how other people feel about the last five minutes, but I did sit there and go, Oh shit, she needs some real help—and I’m hoping she got it.”
June 14, 2023: In the “Secrets Revealed” episode of Vanderpump Rules, which aired on June 14, fans learned that the morning after Tom Sandoval and Raquel Leviss slept together for the first time (in her car), Leviss brought Madix flowers.
At the time, Madix was mourning the death of her dog, Charlotte, who passed away on August 2, 2022. In the newly released footage, Leviss walks into Madix and Sandoval’s Los Angeles home with a bouquet in hand, and Sandoval greets her with a hug. The pair then share a flirty exchange: “I haven’t seen you in so long,” Leviss tells Sandoval, to which he replies, “You got me flowers? Oh, my God, I love it.”
August 16, 2023: In “part one” of a conversation on Bethenny Frankel’s podcast, Leviss speaks out for the first time since completing treatment at a mental health facility. Leviss explains that she was spiraling after a breakup when the affair started and gently pushes back on the idea that her betrayal was more severe than other cast members’ affairs because of her friendship with Madix, calling her an acquaintance turned friend rather than a close confidante, per People.
“I was not thinking long-term,” she said. “I was completely wrapped up in heartbreak and wanting to get certain needs met…. I was still healing from a relationship from somebody who I thought I was going to marry, and in ending that [relationship with James Kennedy] I still haven’t healed yet. So, when I was filming, I was drinking a lot to ease that anxiety, and in a reality TV environment, I wasn’t getting that safe space for me to express my emotions in a healthy way.”
After significant reflection and therapy, Leviss said, “It took me a while to accept, but I learned about love addiction and it’s a real thing…. Those chemical changes in the brain are the same chemical changes that happen when you take drugs. So it is addictive and it explains why I couldn’t stop seeing this person—but it also doesn’t excuse the fact that it happened, but now I know better.”
As for what she did to Madix (well, it’s really what Sandoval did to Madix, but still), Leviss says, “It’s painful to think that I hurt her in this way because that wasn’t my intention. I wasn’t trying to be a malicious person. I just got wrapped up in this and wasn’t thinking clearly. But we were not best friends…. I don’t expect her to forgive me. I think once trust is broken with somebody, from personal experience, it’s really hard to come back for that. And the fact that I was able to keep those secrets from her, I don’t expect her to ever forgive me.”
